Florida Judge Refuses to Seal Becker Divorce Case

By Jane SuttonReuters01/04/01

MIAMI (Reuters) - A Florida judge hearing Boris Becker's
child custody and spousal support dispute ordered on Thursday
that some documents in the case be sealed to protect the safety
of the couple's sons and the confidentiality of the German
tennis star's marketing agreements.

But Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Maynard Gross refused
the three-time Wimbledon champion's request to seal all the
documents and close the hearings to the public and the press.

Becker, wearing a pale blue shirt and tie and well-tailored
dark gray suit, testified for two hours about the kidnapping
threats he said were frequently made against his children,
threats that he said increased whenever widespread publicity
about him fired "the imagination of criminals and crazies."

"I am afraid for the lives of my children and of my wife,"
Becker said, testifying in German through an interpreter. "If I
were an unknown, poor man, there would be nobody who would be
kidnapping my children for ransom money."

Becker, 33, also said his promotional agreements with
clients such as Mercedes automobiles, America Online and
watchmaker TAG Heuer contained confidentiality provisions that
would be breached if his financial records were made public as
part of the divorce.

Becker's wife, Barbara Feltus Becker, 33, moved into the
couple's $3 million vacation home on Miami's posh Fisher Island
in December with their two sons, Noah, 6, and Elias, 16 months.
She filed a petition for support and custody of the children in
the Miami court and has claimed Becker abandoned her.

She did not file for divorce but Becker, who has blamed the
breakup of their seven-year marriage on the pressure of being
rich and famous, subsequently filed for divorce in Germany,
where the couple were wed and where their sons were born.

Becker said three to five members of his security staff
routinely guarded his family and that he had not told his wife
of all the threats against them.

"THREATS A PRETEXT TO CLOSE HEARING"

Barbara Becker did not attend the hearing. In a testy
exchange, her lawyer, Sam Burstyn, said the threats were merely
a pretext to close the hearings "so that your image as
Mercedes' spokesman would not be tarnished."

Burstyn said Becker also wanted his financial records
sealed in order to keep them out of a dispute between Becker
and Bavarian tax officials.

Gross said Becker and his lawyers failed to show the
kidnapping threats were concrete enough to exempt the case from
Florida law, which generally provides that court hearings and
documents should be open to the public.

He noted that by Becker's own testimony, the last threat
received in Florida occurred during a tennis tournament two
years ago and that Becker had merely notified tournament
officials without reporting the incident to police.

But Gross agreed to seal documents containing the Becker
family's phone numbers and addresses, information on their
children and schedules, and those pertaining to commercial
trade secrets.

Gross scheduled a hearing for Monday to determine whether
the Florida court has jurisdiction in the spousal support and
child custody issues.

BECKER WANTS CASE HEARD IN GERMANY

Becker's lawyers said in court documents that the boys were
taken from Germany without their father's permission and he
testified on Thursday that his wife had enrolled the older boy
in an American school against his wishes. His lawyers said that
international agreements in The Hague require that child
custody be determined in the jurisdiction where the children
have resided, meaning in Germany.

They said the Florida petition should be thrown out and the
case decided in Germany.

"This is a German case involving German participants and
German children," one of his lawyers, Evan Marks, said.

Barbara Becker, a former model and actress, is the daughter
of a former U.S. Army medical corps officer. The Florida judge
issued an order last month preventing anyone from removing the
Beckers' sons from Florida pending further ruling.

On the witness stand, Becker seemed contained and
unemotional but during a recess in the trial, he relaxed enough
to pat the protruding belly of a pregnant court employee and
wished her "Good luck." Four armed policemen stood guard inside
the courtroom during the hearing.